Black Cat
(Vol.1)
(dr. Shin Atagi 2005)
published in Empire No.80, Sydney, 2008
Train Heartnet (a name only in anime) is the eponymous Black Cat: crack sniper hitman ranked Number 13 in the secret Chronos society. Drawn in ultra-cute boy-idol style, you wouldn’t know his skills from his outer visage. The first volume of Black Cat serves as an introductory portrait of Train, chronicling his fateful path-crossing with bounty hunters Saya – another cute ball of unseeming violence and harshness – and the prickly Sven. This first volume is surprisingly sophisticated with its gags, narrative momentum and florrid emotional displays. Following volumes are bound to branch out into even weirder hybrids of story-telling.
